General Law Amendment Ordinance 12 of 1956,
sections 4-9
(OG 2018)
came into force on date of publication: 20 July 1956
as amended by
General Law Amendment Ordinance 36 of 1965 (OG 2642)
came into force in relevant part on date of publication: 28 June 1965
Dangerous Weapons Act (Rehoboth) 5 of 1980
(Official Gazette 34 of Rehoboth, dated 24 July 1981)
came into force in Rehoboth on date of publication: 24 July 1981
Only sections 4-9 of this Ordinance remain in force.
Section 1 was repealed by the Trades and Occupational Licences Repeal Act 10 of 1995 (GG 1070).
Section 2 was repealed by the Repeal of Certain Laws Proclamation, AG 7 of 1977 (OG 3656).
Section 3 was repealed by the Trades and Occupational Licences Repeal Act 10 of 1995 (GG 1070).
ORDINANCE
To amend the Licensing Consolidation Ordinance, 1935, the Immorality Proclamation,
1934, the Magistrate’s Courts Proclamation, 1935, and the law relating to the possession of
dangerous weapons, to the alienation or mortgage of property, to procedure in civil cases,
and to the possession and acquisition of stolen property and to declare the unlawful
appropriation of the use of another's property an offence.
[The provisions amending the various laws which are now repealed are no longer in force.]
(Assented to 6th July, 1956)
(English text signed by the Administrator)
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
[The provisions of this Ordinance have no headings.]
Republic of Namibia
2
Annotated Statutes
General Law Amendment Ordinance 12 of 1956, sections 4-9
BE IT ORDAINED by the Legislative Assembly for the Territory of South West Africa, with
the consent of the Governor-General in so far as such consent is necessary previously obtained
and communicated to the Legislative Assembly by message from the Administrator in
accordance with the provisions of section twenty-six of the South West Africa Constitution Act,
1925, as amended by section sixteen of the South West Africa Affairs Amendment Act, 1949, of
the Parliament of the Union of South Africa as follows:-
***
4.
(1) Any person who is in possession of a dangerous weapon as hereinafter
defined, shall thereby be guilty of an offence unless he proves that such weapon is reasonably
needed by him for a lawful purpose.
(2) Any person who manufactures, sells, or supplies any dangerous weapon shall be
guilty of an offence unless he proves that he manufactured it for a lawful purpose or that he had
good grounds for believing that the person purchasing such weapon or supplied with it
reasonably needed it for a lawful purpose.
(3) For the purposes of this section the expression “dangerous weapon” means and
includes the following (a)
handles with wire, chains or other heavy substances attached;
(b)
metal rods or wire exceeding a quarter inch in diameter and six inches in length;
(c)
daggers;
(d)
battle-axes;
(e)
knives (i)
pocket knives, the blades of which can be fixed when opened;
(ii)
knives, including pocket knives, any blade of which exceeds three and a half
inches in length; (blade in this context means that part of a knife which does
not constitute the shaft or handle);
[The semicolon after “in length” is superfluous.]
(f)
spears, assegais and loaded or spiked sticks or any stick exceeding one inch in
diameter;
(g)
knuckledusters;
(h)
sandbags;
(i)
jumpers, crowbars or hammers exceeding three pounds in weight;
(j)
axes or pickaxes;
(k)
solid rubber batons;
Republic of Namibia
3
Annotated Statutes
General Law Amendment Ordinance 12 of 1956, sections 4-9
(l)
articles capable of releasing lachrymatory, asphyxiating, blinding, incapacitating or
other harmful substances and also cartridges therefor;
(m)
any article which so closely resembles a pistol or other firearm as to be calculated
to give the impression that it is a genuine firearm and which is capable, by the
discharge of a cartridge (loaded or unloaded) of causing a loud report, calculated to
give the impression that a genuine firearm had been discharged, and also cartridges
therefor;
(n)
any other article declared by the Administrator by notice in the Official Gazette to
be a dangerous weapon for the purposes of this section.
(4) Nothing in this section contained shall prohibit the possession or acquisition of a
dangerous weapon as in this section defined by any person solely as a trophy, curiosity or
ornament if he is authorised thereto in writing by the Deputy Commissioner of the South
African Police of the Territory.
(5) Any person found guilty of an offence in terms of this section shall be liable to a
fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or in default of payment to imprisonment for a period
not exceeding six months, or to both such fine and such imprisonment.
[Section 4 is repealed in respect of Rehoboth by Act 5 of 1980 (Rehoboth).
A fine not exceeding one hundred pounds is equivalent to a fine not exceeding N$200.]
5.
(1) Whenever under a will or other instrument any unborn person will
entitled to any interest in immovable property which is subject to any restriction imposed
such will or other instrument, the High Court of South West Africa may grant its consent
behalf of any such unborn person (whether already conceived or not) to the alienation
mortgage of such property as if such unborn person were a minor in esse.
be
by
on
or
(2) Proceedings in connection with the granting of such consent shall be deemed to be
civil proceedings within the meaning of paragraph (c) of section three of the Appellate Division
Further Jurisdiction Act, 1911 (Act 1 of 1911), of the Parliament of the Union of South Africa.
[The Appellate Division Further Jurisdiction Act 1 of 1911 was repealed by the
Supreme Court Act 59 of 1959 (SA), which was applicable to South West Africa,
and which was replaced in turn by the Supreme Court Act 15 of 1990.]
6.
Any person who is found in possession of any goods, other than stock or produce
as defined in section one of the Stock Theft Law Amendment Ordinance, 1935 (Ordinance 11 of
1935), in regard to which there is reasonable suspicion that they have been stolen and is unable
to give a satisfactory account of such possession, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on
conviction to the penalties which may be imposed on a conviction of theft.
[The Stock Theft Law Amendment Ordinance 11 of 1935
has been replaced by the Stock Theft Act 12 of 1990.]
7.
(1) Any person who in any manner, otherwise than at a public sale, acquires or
receives into his possession from any other person stolen goods, other than stock or produce as
defined in section one of the Stock Theft Law Amendment Ordinance, 1935 (Ordinance 11 of
1935), without having reasonable cause, proof of which shall be on such firstmentioned person,
for believing at the time of such acquisition or receipt that such goods are the property of the
person from whom he receives them or that such person has been duly authorized by the owner
thereof to deal with or to dispose of them, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction
to the penalties which may be imposed on a conviction of receiving stolen property knowing it
to have been stolen except in so far as the imposition of any such penalty may be compulsory.
Republic of Namibia
4
Annotated Statutes
General Law Amendment Ordinance 12 of 1956, sections 4-9
[Subsection (1) is amended by Ord. 36 of 1965. Gomes v Prosecutor-General [2013] NAHCMD 240
struck down the phrase “proof of which shall be on such first-mentioned person” in section 7(1), but
this case was reversed by the Supreme Court on appeal in Prosecutor-General of the Republic of
Namibia v Gomes and Others [2015] NASC 19, with the effect that section 7(1)
remains as it stands in the Ordinance.]
(2)
For the purposes of sub-section (1) “public sale” means a sale effected -
(a)
at any public market; or
(b)
by any shopkeeper during the hours when his shop may in terms of any law remain
open for the transaction of business; or
(c)
by a duly licensed auctioneer at a public auction; or
(d)
in pursuance of an order of a competent court.
8.
(1) Any person who, without a bona fide claim of right and without the consent
of the owner or the person having the control thereof, removes any property from the control of
the owner of such person with intent to use it for his own purposes without the consent of the
owner or any other person competent to give such consent, whether or not he intends throughout
to return the property to the owner or person from whose control he removes it, shall, unless it is
proved that such person, at the time of the removal, had reasonable grounds for believing that
the owner or such other person would have consented to such use if he had known about it, be
guilty of an offence and on conviction liable to the penalties which may lawfully be imposed for
theft.
(2) Any person charged with theft may be found guilty of a contravention of subsection (1) if such be the facts proved.
9.
This Ordinance shall be called the General Law Amendment Ordinance, 1956.